As a member of the lower middle class from an industrial suburb of Brussels, Laermans was sensitive to social issues. He had witnessed the transformation of the coiuntryside brought about by industialisation and was fully aware of the conditions of the working classes. This awareness was nurtured by literature, from Charles Baudelaire to the Naturalists. Instead of painitng distintive individuals, Laermans sought to grasp the essence of a class, defining its collective and universal dimension. In this emblematic work, the elderly peasant couple's form is rendered in a stiff and awkward manner, following the tradition of the cult of the naive in the footsteps of Brueghel and Jean-Francois Millet. The aumnal landsacape represents the passing of time and imminence of death.